What Grows Again
Locally grown coppiced wood to inform contemporary design and making.
What Grows Again explores regenerative forestry in the UK through coppicing, a woodland management technique in which broadleaf trees are cut back to a stool and allowed to regrow in repeated cycles. The project aims to demonstrate how this material, shaped by growth, time, and regeneration, can inform the design of new artefacts, small-scale structures, and spatial interventions. It positions coppicing as a cyclical ecological practice: a means of restoring biodiversity, renewing skills and local economies, and fostering material resilience.
Despite its ecological and cultural value, coppiced wood remains underused in industry due to its natural variability and the challenges of standardising its properties. Yet these qualities are precisely what make it valuable. This collaborative installation explores how locally sourced coppiced hazel can be integrated into structural systems as an alternative to low-cost industrial timber. Visitors are invited to build and expand a pavilion using a connector system specifically designed for coppiced wood.
Antoine Léger
a-leger@outlook.com
@leger_ant